Time for Telegraph Vote: Protected or Buffered?

Option 1: Protected Bike Lanes

Green curbside bike lanes with bollards between the bike lane and parked cars. One travel lane in each direction, except between 51st and 52nd Street where there are two northbound travel lanes. Bus boarding islands are provided and pedestrian crosswalks, purple bulb outs and parking daylighting are included. Kasper’s Korner is expanded too by closing the last block of Shattuck Avenue–the Temescal Business Improvement District has requested this redesign of Kasper’s Korner.

The proposed bollards are like the bollards already installed at Harrison & 23rd Street near Lake Merritt. These now Oakland standard bollards are also being added to the protected bike lanes in the KONO District of Telegraph Avenue.

Option 2: Buffered Bike Lanes

Buffered bike lanes between parked cars and moving cars. Like protected bike lanes, one travel lane in each direction, except between 51st and 52nd Street where there are two northbound travel lanes. Bus boarding islands are provided and pedestrian crosswalks, bulb outs and parking daylighting are included. Kasper’s Korner is expanded too. Buffered bike lanes are often blocked by double parked cars, but they also avoid having to interact with pedestrians getting from parked cars to the curb.

We are also working to complete missing bike lane gaps above 29th Street and above 52nd Street, to connect to existing bike lanes north of 57th Street. Ultimately, we want protected bike lanes the entire length of Telegraph Avenue.

Volunteer training to make Telegraph happen

Issues to be aware of:

High Injury Corridor: In Oakland, 60% of all crashes happen on 6% of streets, including Telegraph. People have been hit and killed walking across Telegraph Avenue, and on average 4 out of 5 cars do not yield to pedestrians. Further, average speeds above 27th Street are dangerously high. Oakland is committed to redesigning their streets for the safety of people using them, and they have our full support. As more and more people use alternatives to driving, every major street needs a protected bike lane. In 2019, Telegraph could have one, an improvement Bike East Bay has fought for over 15 years to realize.

Parking: All options to repair Telegraph Avenue remove some parking near cross streets in order to increase visibility of pedestrians crossing at uncontrolled crosswalks and bring old striping designs up to modern standards. The protected bike lane option removes an additional 10-15 parking spaces over the buffered bike lane option.

Traffic: Traffic on Telegraph Avenue has actually decreased in recent years, and is now well below traffic volumes requiring two travel lanes in each direction. Plans to repair Telegraph include adding bus boarding islands, retiming all traffic signals and giving AC Transit buses a one-block red lane at 51st Street along with a queue jump at the 52nd Street traffic light. This will ensure AC Transit buses actually move faster with the project than currently.

Protected vs Buffered: some of our members prefer buffered bike lanes over protected bike lanes. We do hear that. However, the vast majority of our members and people bicycling prefer protected bike lanes away from traffic. They are tired of going shoulder-to-shoulder with SUVs. In addition, thousands of more people would bicycle (who currently do not) if Oakland provides a network of low-stress protected bikeways. Telegraph’s protected bike lanes will be part of that comfortable bike network. Repair Telegraph project will include a continous row of white bollards and green painted bike lanes to prevent cars from parking in the bike lane. The project may also include pickup and drop off spots for Uber and Lyft cars.